The former Minnesota Vikings pass rusher will face his old team this week.
In 2014, the Minnesota Vikings made the decision to hire Mike Zimmer as the team’s new head coach. Shortly after hiring Zimmer, the Vikings chose to give Everson Griffen a lucrative contract extension and make him one of their starting defensive ends.
Moving Griffen into the starting lineup turned out to be a great decision for Minnesota as he was able to experience a bunch of success in Zimmer’s defensive scheme.
Now the former Vikings pass rusher is a member of the Detroit Lions and he’s preparing to make his return to the Twin Cities on Sunday to face his old team. One would think Griffen wouldn’t need much help to get motivated for this weekend, but he seems to be finding it with some recent comments from Zimmer.
Everson Griffen hurt by recent comments from the Minnesota Vikings head coach
When recently asked about facing Griffen, Zimmer said that his former defensive end “was a good player for us. I wish him well, just not this week.”
Now, that sounds like a statement that shouldn’t ruffle anyone’s feathers. But apparently, Griffen did not appreciate the Minnesota head coach calling him a “good player.”
On Thursday, the former Vikings pass rusher said that Zimmer referring to him as good instead of great hurt his feelings. It seemed like an odd reaction at the time and it still seems odd that Griffen was basically offended by his former coach complimenting him.
If Griffen wants to get technical, Zimmer calling him good instead of great is perfectly fine. I further explained this on the latest episode of The Viking Age Podcast.
Zimmer’s comments were definitely not said with the intention to discredit Griffen’s time in Minnesota. In the mind of the Vikings head coach, he probably views what he said as praise for his former defensive end.
But for some reason, Zimmer’s comments rubbed Griffen the wrong way and now he’s going to use them as extra motivation when he makes his debut in a Lions uniform on Sunday against Minnesota.
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